Palestinian Bedouin children play on May 30 in the Khan al-Ahmar village, a Bedouin village which is located between the West Bank city of Jericho and Jerusalem and is under an Israeli demolition order. (AFP Photo)
RAMALLAH, June 3 (Xinhua) --- The Palestinian authorities said on Tuesday that Israel's threat to forcibly transfer the Bedouin community on the periphery of East Jerusalem constitutes a "war crime."
On May 24, the Israeli High Court reached a verdict to raze the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar in East Jerusalem, where 200 homes and community structures are slated for demolition.
The ruling "is another testament to Israel's culture of impunity that allows it to continue endangering the very existence of the Palestinian people on their land and to commit further grave violations of international law," the Secretariat of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian presidency said in a joint statement.
"There will be a war crime being committed before the eyes of the entire international community," the statement warned.
The Palestinian authorities also appealed to the international community to "take concrete action to stop the Israeli occupation and to protect the Palestinian people."
"Israel must be held accountable for its grave violations of the International Humanitarian Law, UN resolutions and the human rights of the Palestinian people," it said.
Meanwhile, the top Palestinian political bodies accused the United States of giving the green light to Israel's threats.
Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and the EU's acquiescence pushed the Israeli government to "advance its annexation plans which affect vast occupied areas of vital importance for Palestine," the statement said.
The community in the Khan al-Ahmar village is one of the 46 Bedouin communities in the central West Bank which the United Nations considers at the risk of forcible transfer.
